India raises issues of Depsang plains and Demchok before China

New Delhi: Ahead of Chinese Defence Minister Li Shangfu's visit to New Delhi this week, India and China held the 18th round of Corps Commander talks on April 23, 2023 in the eastern Ladakh sector to resolve the issues along the Line of Actual Control (LAC).

The talks were held at the Indian side of the Chushul-Moldo meeting point after a gap of nearly five months since the last round of talks was held in December 2022.

The Indian delegation was led by Lieutenant General Rashim Bali, Commander of the 14 Corps — also known as the Fire and Fury Corps, while an officer of the same rank led the talks from the Chinese side from the local theatre command.

Sources told Defence Watch that India raised the issues of Depsang plains and Demchok during the talks. India insisted on de-escalation and tempering down tensions in the strategically-important Depsang Plains.

They said both India and China have been able to resolve some of the issues that had come up for discussion during the talks in the previous rounds.

The 18th round of military talks took place ahead of Chinese Defence Minister Li Shangfu's visit to India to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Defence Ministers Conference on April 27-28. This will be the first visit of a Chinese Defence Minister after the 2020 Galwan clash.

Corps Commander level talks were instituted in 2020 as a result of the eastern Ladakh border standoff between the Indian and Chinese armies that erupted on May 5, 2020, following a violent clash in the Pangong lake area. Both sides gradually enhanced their deployment by rushing in tens of thousands of soldiers as well as heavy weaponry.

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